MSE news: Complaints over erroneous iPhone data roaming charges

shudd1967

I.ve just got the Samsung Galaxy S2 and starting to undertsand it (well sort of!!) and this is my first phone with internet and all that sort of thing.

I am going away in September and I know the hotel has wifi (free I believe but will check) and not going to take a laptop or anything, how can I ensure that I only use the wifi? I am not that technically minded so I presume that if I only used wifi I wouldn't get any extra roaming charges for browsing?

I am with Vodaphone.

Vodafone

Hi shudd1967,

Before you go, make sure you switch off all mobile data as well as data roaming. That way, you can connect only through the WiFi connection which won't be any additional cost.

To do this you can simply press and hold the power/lock button on the right hand side of the phone to bring up the 'phone options' menu. Then under data network mode you can disable.

I hope you have a great time

Kind regards,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

8a8ycakes

I have been just charged for data roaming by o2 even though I switched off my 3g and data roaming. Customer services tell me that this can happen as data still runs in the background.... Surely if I turn mty data roaming off this can not happen????? Feel like I been fobbed off!!!!!!Whats the point of been bale to switch it off if it still runs in the background?

grumbler

8a8ycakes wrote: »

I have been just charged for data roaming by o2 even though I switched off my 3g and data roaming. Customer services tell me that this can happen as data still runs in the background....

They are talking rubbish. Applications can run in background, not data. If data roaming is off and the phone is not faulty, application cannot use any data. However, as you can see from this thread, this isn't always the case for iPhones.

That said, there were no much point in switching 3g off as mobile internet can work slowly on 2g. You should have switched mobile (cellular) data off instead, but this is just an extra precaution if data roaming is switched off.

schalkie1610

I recently returned from South Africa to find I'd racked up a £652 bill on my O2 iPhone. I'd like some advice if anyone has any experience in this area?


Points:
* I was expecting to receive texts when my bill reached £50, £100, etc (which I had previously been sent when abroad), but didn't receive any.
* I previously had an international cap of £150, but reached this when I was taken ill and hospitalised in Spain last October with a collapsed lung. At the time, when I reached this £150 limit, and requested more data by text, but without realising that I was removing this cap permanently.
* I used wifi as much as possible, only turning it on for brief periods when I needed data connection and wifi was unavailable.
* I was in SA for 7 days
* Cost per MB looks like it's £6 per MB



Upon discussing with O2:
* Because the cap was removed by text, it looks likely that I inadvertently opted out (permanently) without realising this - I thought I was simply adding more data for that month
* O2 say that because I was in SA, they can't guarantee sending heavy usage messages (the one I did receive at £652) or the texts about £50, £100, etc reached - it can take 7 to 30 days for them to receive this information themselves. However, they did send £50 usage notification texts when I was in South Africa on previous visits and had a cap in place.



Questions:
* How can O2 provide a capping service at £150 if it takes 7-30 days to receive the data usage from international carriers?
* What do international carriers charge O2 for data and what is O2's mark up?
* If the mark up is huge then do I have any means of presenting that as an argument?

NFH

schalkie1610 - This thread is about where data roaming was turned off but charges were nevertheless incurred. You admit to turning it on. Therefore your story doesn't belong in this thread, but in your own thread.

boatman

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi shudd1967,

Before you go, make sure you switch off all mobile data as well as data roaming. That way, you can connect only through the WiFi connection which won't be any additional cost.

Kind regards,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

There is a problem that exists, Vodafone have admitted it in this post. The vodafone rep has told people to turn off 'mobile data' AND 'roaming', clearly they know something we don't!!

I have certainly been told by people in the Channel islands that they are advised to turn off both when in UK because the phone does not know the difference between the UK and Channel Islands. It sees them as the same country even though they have different networks and it will be counted as roaming. It's based on the MCC (Mobile Country Code). The UK's MCC is 234 and that is shared by the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The phone automatically swaps to another network happily thinking its ok to use, completely oblivious to the fact you'll get charged for roaming.

NFH

boatman wrote: »

I have certainly been told by people in the Channel islands that they are advised to turn off both when in UK because the phone does not know the difference between the UK and Channel Islands. It sees them as the same country even though they have different networks and it will be counted as roaming. It's based on the MCC (Mobile Country Code). The UK's MCC is 234 and that is shared by the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

This has an element of plausibility to it. However, what makes me doubt it is that in the early days of the Orange/T-Mobile merger from October 2010, whereby there was national roaming between the two networks but no seamless handover of calls between the them, turning off data roaming caused there to be no mobile data while roaming on the other network. That's all solved now that EE have integrated the two legacy networks, but the fact that the problem existed at one point suggests that having a common MCC doesn't cause iPhones to allow data roaming while it's turned off.

Frozen_up_north

Unless you really need data roaming, the best solution is to disable it at network level... Do not rely on the phone's own settings.

On Three you can turn off your data roaming via their web site, I am not sure about other networks.

boatman

http://support.sure.com/guernsey/mobile/roaming-4





How to turn off data abroad (iPhone)

Roaming rates apply for data-use when not on the Sure network. Due to the amount we are charged by other operators, data-use while abroad can be very expensive.
If you have your phone set to automatically receive and send emails, update applications or otherwise connect to the internet it is recommended that you turn these features off when you are abroad to avoid large roaming charges. You can do this by turning off data access on your phone. There are several ways for iPhone users to control data access when away from home:
Switch off 'data when roaming'

Settings > General > Network > Switch Data Roaming to 'OFF'
Please note that this process will only prevent data use outside of the UK. You will still be charged roaming rates within the UK when not connected to the Sure network.


Note that they specifically say that turning off data roaming will not stop your phone using data in the UK and you will get charged. As i said it doesn't know the difference between UK and CI networks..